§ MR. J. MACVEAGHI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he can state if the Bank of England has a complete record of the unclaimed balances lying to the credit of depositors since the establishment of the Bank; if so, whether he can state the total amount; and, if not, whether he can state the total amount within the past 100 years; whether any interest has been placed to the credit of the unclaimed balances; and whether he can state the total cash value in the same period of bank notes issued by the Bank of England but not presented for repayment.
§ MR. HOBHOUSEThe Bank of England in relation to its private customers is in the same position as any other bank, and the Treasury is not entitled to call for information as to the accounts of those customers. The Bank of England allows no interest on deposits. The treatment of Bank of England notes which have remained outstanding for more than forty years is dealt with by Section 6 of the Bank Act, 1892, under which Returns are annually presented to Parliament. I have no information as to the amount of outstanding notes beyond that which is contained in these Returns. The Bank is always liable to pay a genuine note on presentation, whatever its date of issue.
§ MR. J. MACVEAGHThe hon. Gentleman has not stated the total amount that the Bank of England has drawn from these sources in the last 100 years?
§ MR. HOBHOUSEI have stated that the Treasury is not entitled to call for information as to the accounts of the customers.
§ MR. J. MACVEAGHIs it a fact that the Bank of England has no more moral claim to these balances than the man in the moon, and as the joint stock banks of the country are carrying on the same practice and making a handsome profit out of it, does not the hon. Gentleman think that it is time that somebody-stepped in?
§ [No Answer was returned.]